Judge Rules Cornel West Can’t Appear on Ballot in Pennsylvania

Presidential hopeful Cornel West speaks during a protest for a Gaza cease-fire, in Chicago on Aug. 22, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A court in Pennsylvania on Aug. 23 ruled that independent presidential candidate Cornel West cannot appear on the presidential ballot in Pennsylvania, a key battleground state that determines the 2024 election.

In a 15-page ruling, Commonwealth Court Judge Renée Cohn Jubelirer sided with the Secretary of State’s office under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro in rejecting West’s candidacy paperwork.

The Secretary of State’s office said West and his running mate, activist Melina Abdullah, lacked the required affidavits for 14 of West’s 19 presidential electors. The court agreed with the office’s arguments.

Jubelirer, a Republican, agreed with the Secretary of State’s office that minor-party presidential electors are to be considered candidates for office who must file affidavits, even if major-party presidential electors are not.

Pennsylvania’s Secretary of State office, the court ruled, “is required to certify the ballot in time for county boards to print and mail those ballots to military electors who are serving overseas or in isolated areas ‘not later than [70] days prior’ to a general election.'”

If the court sided with West, it would make “it nearly impossible for [the Secretary of State’s office] and county boards to, respectively, timely certify, print, and mail the absentee ballots as contemplated by the Election Code, and removing almost two weeks from that timeframe almost guarantees the inability to act within those timeframes,” the judge wrote.

For that reason and others, the court found that West “failed to exercise due diligence” and barred him from appearing on the ballot.

Matthew Haverstick, West’s lawyer, had said that he saw “no good reason for Mr. West to be kept off the ballot or Pennsylvanians otherwise prevented from voting for him.” It’s not clear whether he will appeal the court’s decision.

Also on Aug. 23, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the court in a filing that he will withdraw from Pennsylvania’s ballot. In a speech in Phoenix, Kennedy said he is suspending his presidential bid, backing former President Donald Trump, and planning to remain on ballots in states where he is unlikely to sway the outcome.

Kennedy later appeared at a rally with Trump, with the former president declaring that Kennedy will “have a huge influence on this campaign.”

The Green Party’s Jill Stein and the Libertarian Party’s Chase Oliver submitted petitions to get on Pennsylvania’s presidential ballot without being challenged, while the Party for Socialism and Liberation has said it will appeal a judge’s decision to order its presidential candidate, Claudia De la Cruz, off Pennsylvania’s ballot.

The Nov. 5 election in Pennsylvania is forecast to be close, with the Cook Political Report rating it as a “toss up” between Trump and the Democrat Party’s candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. In the 2020 race, Pennsylvania state officials called the race in favor of then-candidate Joe Biden over Trump, who then filed several post-election legal challenges in the Keystone State.

Some polls have shown that West and Stein, who have both campaigned on ending the conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group, could take votes from the Democratic Party in the upcoming election.

West, however, notched a legal victory in another potential battleground state over the weekend when a Michigan judge ruled on Aug. 24 that he must appear on the ballot. Like Pennsylvania, Michigan, which has 15 electoral votes, is also expected to be close and was rated as a “toss up” by Cook.

“Victory in Michigan! We brought thousands of voices to the table, and the court listened, rejecting the Democrats’ technical challenges,” West, a former Harvard University and Yale University professor, wrote on social media platform X. “This is a win for democracy and for every person fighting for truth, justice, and love. Onward!”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.